Summary
"20 years in the ME" reflected our growth, diversity, deep integration in the market, and our commitment to the region and our clients over these 20 years. We did this successfully by highlighting our journey and the lasting impression created in the Middle East region. Through this campaign, we successfully emphasized our commitment to the region and exhibited local and global investment and distribution capabilities via promotions on various traditional and innovative platforms.
Challenge
CHALLENGES OF BEING KNOWN •Franklin Templeton is not a very well-known brand in the region amongst end-clients (B2C challenges). • Even with advisors, we are not always the first choice of call for their clients (B2B challenges). • Moreover, even amongst the loyal advisors, we are perceived as an American/global brand – not as someone with local capabilities or deep commitment to the region. CHALLENGES OF COMPETITORS • Local brands are better known, have a wider reach, have deeper pockets & offer a basket of services including asset management, banking, insurance, etc. • Even global brands seem to have created a better reputation and brand for themselves in the local market. CHALLENGES OF THE MARKET • Limited advertising budgets and opportunities in an economy that was still limping from COVID-19. • Given the regulatory license we operated under in the region, we had to be within their legal and
Objective
Franklin Templeton has completed 20 years in the Middle East, which gave us the perfect opportunity to position the company as one of the early entrants to the market. Through an amalgamation of the past, present and the future, we also wanted to highlight our journey and the lasting impression we've created in the Middle East. It was also important for us to showcase the commitment we have towards the region by exhibiting our local distribution and investment capabilities. Having spent 2 decades in the Middle East, it was time to instil confidence within our regional and global clients that we are well-positioned to uncover opportunities through our on-ground regional presence.
Strategy
Franklin Templeton completed 20 years in the Middle East region. To celebrate and showcase this achievement, we launched a brand campaign – "20 years in the ME", that reflected our growth, diversity, deep integration in the market, and our commitment to the region and our clients over these 20 years. Our campaign strategy was aligned with an aim to increase brand awareness and consideration and we did this by attempting to capture an amalgamation of the past, present, and future highlighting our journey and the lasting impression created in the Middle East region. Our campaign's concept captured an amalgamation of the past, present and future highlighting our journey and the "lasting impression" created. It reflected on our growth, diversity, deep integration in the market and commitment to the region and our clients. It also resonated well with the UAE's theme - "50-years celebration and vision for next 50". Through this campaign, we successfully emphasized our commitment to the region and exhibited local and global investment and distribution capabilities via promotions on different platforms including print, out-of-home advertising, social, digital and PR.
Data
Our campaign strategy was aligned with an aim to increase brand awareness and consideration and we did this by attempting to capture an amalgamation of the past, present, and future highlighting our journey and the lasting impression created in the Middle East region. Our campaign's concept captured an amalgamation of the past, present and future highlighting our journey and the "lasting impression" created. It reflected on our growth, diversity, deep integration in the market and commitment to the region and our clients. It also resonated well with the UAE's theme - "50-years celebration and vision for next 50". Through this campaign, we successfully emphasized our commitment to the region and exhibited local and global investment and distribution capabilities via promotions on different platforms including print, out-of-home advertising, social, digital and PR.
Solution
We used the Dubai frame as our hero visual and created platform-specific strategies which gave our campaign reach and engagement with messaging centered to local distribution and investment capabilities that we offer. To better communicate this 20 years history, we created a special landing page on our website that featured an overview of Franklin Templeton in the Middle East region and a timeline of our journey till date highlight key milestones over the years. We included highlights of the office and local capabilities, including locally managed products on this landing page and other creatives to highlight our well-entrenched lineage and deep commitment to the region. Our campaign-specific posts had creatives and 15 seconder short videos which were published weekly on various platforms including LinkedIn. Our promotional strategy included a content and advertising partnership with Gulf News, one of the well-known local publishers, to showcase the local flavor of the Global brand. • This included front-page print ads in the Gulf newsprint edition which helped us reach more local audiences physically. • We also did display advertising, ROS ads, etc. including a takeover of the masthead with "Ear Panels" on the home page. • The out-of-home advertising for the campaign included displaying 15-second ads on a 90-second loop on screens around DIFC. • The promotion of the campaign via PR also included a partnered post with DIFC on their LinkedIn page.
Results
Campaign impact: Visibility – 57K+ video views on Social 3K+ page views on website Impressions - 202K+ impressions on Social 3.9Mn+ impressions on display Reach – 170K+ audience reached on Social Engagement Rates – 28.54% VTR on LinkedIn 18.73% ER on Facebook 0.10% ER on Mobile Banners BRAND IMPACT: Brand Consideration increased by 32% overall: During the months following the campaign, we saw a distinct improvement in brand recall and consideration. Prior to the campaign, 1 out of 4 advisors were considering recommending our products to their investors. As a result of the campaign, research* showed that this improved to 1 out of 3. Hence consideration went up from 25% to 33% - an increase of 32% overall. BUSINESS IMPACT: Increase in Sales Queries: As a result of the campaign, sales queries (defined as additional information sought on our funds either via email or phone calls) from advisors increased by over 20% from previous quarter (Jan to March versus April to June). Increase in Gross Sales: During the months following the campaign, there was a positive impact on incremental gross sales for the focus funds in the region. Over the months during and following the campaign there was an average increase** between 14 to18% in monthly gross sales numbers compared to the previous period when no campaign was run.
